2013 UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEN’S SOCCER
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP “It was especially painful to see two teams that, prior to NCAA tournament, we had gone 3-0 against and they were playing each other in the final of the College Cup,” says Van De Casteele. “It made everything a little bit more devastating and I ended up not even watching that game, because it was so upsetting. “The fact of the matter is that last year, despite all of our regular-season success, we didn’t really have true success in the NCAA tournament. The true measure of success is how you finish the year, that’s something that guys on the team should really be able to buy into.” Van De Casteele was kind enough to provide us with a short scouting report/ information capsule on the three teammates who start alongside him on the back line: • Junior left back Max Lachowecki (Evansville, Ind.) - “Obviously one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, something about his voice it’s kind of nasally and pretty much whatever he says will comes out funny. He could say I just went to the dining hall and had a sandwich and it wound be hilarious. Max is pretty attacking oriented and very good on the ball. Despite being a defender, he is an offensive threat and we try to use him in situations that can work out well for us and lead to goals. • Senior right back Luke Mishu (Knoxville, Tenn.) - Similar to Max, we like to use Luke offensively and build the attack from the flanks. He is deceptively, freakishly strong and was a gymnast when he was a kid. He destroys it in the weight room. Luke went on a leadership retreat a few weeks ago and was able to climb this incredible difficult rock wall, and his reputation went up in the eyes of everybody in attendance. He also has one of the funniest laughs on the team, I don’t know how to describe it but it makes you start laughing too, even if what was said was not funny.
“Our team knows when to be light and when to focus, but I think it’s nice if at times they can relax,” says the Notre Dame head coach. “When you are being funny, you’ve just got to be careful. There are things we can do in the locker room and there are things we do in public. Grant and Max both are smart guys, they know when things are appropriate and when they are not.” Only a few years removed from his own collegiate playing career, Dalby adds his own take on mixing humor with seriousness. “When all our guys cross the line on the field, they know it’s time to be serious, but I also thing they really have fun being serious on the field,” says the former All-American. “Our players have lot of personality off the field and I think that personality transfers onto what you see on the field, in guys who are resilient, who want to compete, want to fight and want to win. Guys like Grant and Max epitomize that approach.” With only four months left in his career as a Notre Dame student, Van De Casteele is determined to see his playing days with the Irish extend into the middle of December and the College Cup championship weekend. One year ago, the Irish had compiled an historic season that including winning a Big East title and entering the NCAAs as the tournament’s top seed, with a 163-1 record. A bitter 2-1 overtime loss to rival Indiana in the NCAA round-of-16 brought an abrupt end to Notre Dame’s promising 2012 season. A couple weeks later, Indiana won the NCAA title after defeating Georgetown in the title game. Earlier in the season, the Irish twice had defeated Georgetown while also beating Indiana, 1-0, in a regular-season matchup. Van De Casteele headed home the lone goal, the fourth of his career, in the win over the Hoosiers in Bloomington.
• Senior left-center back Andrew O’Malley (West Chester, Pa.) - “Andrew is more of an old-school kind of defender, very good at 1-v-1 defense and a strong tackler. He reads the game well and is great at communicating. He is an engineer and if you are ever in need of a random bit of information, just a random question like how fast is the earth spinning right now? then Andrew probably will know the answer. He would be a very valuable asset on a trivia team. And he listens to some `death metal’ music, which is very different, but to each his own.” In addition to his goal of leading Notre Dame on a deep NCAA run in 2013, Van De Casteele also likely will emerge as a strong professional soccer prospect. He hopes to get invited to the 2014 MLS Combine and ultimately get drafted into the league. And he knows that the advice and lessons learned from the Notre Dame coaching staff will serve him well. “Coach Clark’s pedigree speaks for itself and of course Greg Dalby also has a big influence on me because we have so much in common, most of the things I have been through Greg went through as well during his Notre Dame career. He has my back and has my best interests at heart,” says Van De Casteele. “With all of the coaches (Clark, Dalby, associate head coach BJ Craig and volunteer assistant Vern Gingerich), I try to be a good listener and be coachable. You see that our team is very organized defensively, throughout all 11 players on the field, and I think that’s a reflection of the coaching staff. Coach Clark’s attention to detail is something that has rubbed off a lot on me, not only soccer but in everyday life.” Van De Casteele offered an example of how attention to detail and the concept of full-team defending can be manifested on the field. “Our mentality is one of focusing on doing the work now and doing the little things now, so you don’t have to do the big tasks later,” says the veteran defender. “We try to be a good re-pressing team whenever we lose the ball. If you lose the ball and make a five-yard sprint to go get it again, that could potentially save the whole team from running 60 yards back into our own box and defending for five minutes. When you think about it like that, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t sacrifice your own five-yard run for the betterment of the team.”